



m 





^■i^ 



.K>rr 







^ ^g:;s^y^\;a ;:' '*: 3 g 3 i 



I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. % 

I ^^wy — '' 

l^ Chap t.^'^--/^^- 



Shelf 



Xi UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



^' 



,u.^,^^^^ 



GEN, WM, H. HARRISON AT NORTH BEND. 



AN ADDRESS 

Delivered before tlie 
CINCINNATI LITERARY CLUB 

FEBRUARY 4, 1871. 
BY 



JUDGE JOSEPH COX. 



GEN. WM. H. HAH.RISON AT NORTH BEND. 



AN ADDRESS 

Uelivei-ecl bet'oi-e tlie 
CINCINNATI LITERARY CLUB 

FEBRUARY 4, 1871. 

BY 
I 

JUDGE JOSEPH COX. 




CINCINNATI: 

PRINTED AT THK OFFICE OF THE "MYSTIC JEWEL, 

230 Walnut Street. 

1871. 



;5 



., - v,» ui^tui. lie was 

early enlisted in the Independence of the Colonies. In 1764 he 




/■:n,/:'/,i- II. ir,,, hull i„„i„ '/,■,//„■ i,,,/,,-., i: f/,, ■.,:/, n- 

.•UmI ir.si.lriirc ,i| ihc l.ilr |'| rsiilciil U l|.l|;iiTlsuli. 
I)ih/i.rlii;l In Hhii/il ,\ Xiii-nii.sln/l /in' 



GEN. WM. E HAEEISON AT NORTH BEND. 



Nearly thirty years have passed since the remains of Genl. 
Harrison were borne through our city to be deposited in their 
last resting i^lace at North Bend. Most of the generation of 
men who were then prominent actors in public affairs, have 
followed him, or still linger on the stage mere spectators of the 
active world around them. Nearly twenty-three millions of peo- 
ple have been added to our population, to whom he speaks only 
through history. 

The personal animosities, political prejudices, and wild excite- 
ment of 1840, are all hushed, and we cau turn back in memory, 
or con over the pages which record them all ; and weigh mo- 
tives, and judge deeds, with the calm philosophy of the historian. 
With no personal ambition to gratify, or political partisanship to 
warp, we can afford to be just to the virtues and forgetful of 
the faults oi the dead. 

In this spirit let us stand by the tomb of Harrison, at North 
Bend, on the bank of the Ohio, and look back over the sixty- 
eight years of life through which he passed, from the cradle on 
the James. They were years of stirring import to the world. 
They witnessed the throes and birth of a free government, and 
Its progressive steps from a Rebellious Colony to a controlling 
power in the destinies of the world. 

William Henry Harrison was born in the midst of Revolu- 
tion, and inherited the blood of heroes. His family descended 
from a near relation of Genl. Harrison, who was a bold leader 
in the Revolution of the English Commonwealth, and was sacri- 
ficed on the scaff'old for his liberal principles. They settled in 
Virginia in 1640, sustained the high chaiacter of their ances- 
tors, and filled many important positions in the Colony. 

Benjamin Harrison, the father of William H., was a man 
of education, wealth and influence. He was a plain, common 
sense man, withal ; a man of the people, and for them. He was 
early enlisted in the Independence of the Colonies. In 1704 he 



■was one of a committee r»ti}jointed by the House of Burgesses, 
to prepare an address to tiie throne, and a memorial to the 
House of Lords and Commons of Great Britain in opposition 
to the anticipated stamp :n't. 

As British oppression increased, the patriotic fires of the 
country were inflamed, and with Henry, Wythe, Randolph, 
Jefferson, and others of Virginia, he stood forth in defiance of 
the tyranny of England. He was a member of the Convention 
which met at Williamsburg. August 1st, 1774, and passed 
strong resolutions in favor of equal rights, and was appointed a 
delegate to the Congress to be held at Philadelphia, Sept. 1st, 
when his brother-in-law, Peyton Randolph, was placed in the 
Presidential chair by a unanimous vote. The six Delegates from 
Virginia, were Peyton Randolph, George Washington, Patrick 
Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pen- 
dleton. Great name^, M-lncli the world Avill never let die. He 
was a member of the Convention which met at Richmond in 1775, 
and passed the bold Resolution to organize a provisional Gov- 
ernment, and adopt a plan of defense for the Colony. 

During the session of Congress, May 24, 1775, Peyton Ran- 
dolph died, and John Hancock was elected to fill the vacancy. 
He, who with John Adams, had the j-ear before been excepted 
from the general amnesty of the King. It is related, that when 
Lis name was announced, he seemed overcome with modest 
diffidence, and not proceeding instantly to his post, Mr. Har- 
rison, who was standing near him, seized him up in his gigantic 
arms, and placed him in the chnir, remarking: "we will show 
Mother Britain how little we care for her, by making a Mas- 
sachusetts man our President, whom she has excluded from par- 
don by a pul)lic proclamation." 

He presided in Congress at the adoi)tiou of the Declaration of 
Independence, was one ot the signers of that instrument ; and 
one of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence. With Benja- 
min Franklin and Thomas Lynch, he was at Washington's 
headquarters, in 1775, as a Committee of Congress, to consult 
Tvith him in i-e-organizing the army. On the Committee to pre- 
pare a plan of National treaties in 1776, and member of National 
Board of War. While in Congress he was in the chair on almost 
alHmportant questions. Counsellor of Virginia; Speaker of the 
House of ReiJi-esentalives of Virginia, from 1777 to 1782; then 
Governor of Virginia; re-el^iciod t'A'ice. when he became ineligi- 



ble by the Constitution — then again member of the Legislature 
till 1788, and then member of the Convention of his State to 
adopt the Federal Constitution — nominated for Governor again 
in 1790,declined it — in 1791 unanimously elected to the Legislature, 
and died that year. He was a man of commanding personal 
presence, great wit and humor, strong common sense, a clear 
head and a brave heart, which made him a fat associate for the great 
men who ruled the times. 

So long and varied a public life in such trying times, is given 
to but few, and fewer still are they who come out of them as gold 
tried in the fire. 

Gen. William Henry Harrison was born at Berkley, the country 
seat of his father, on the Janies River, in Charles City County, 
Virginia, 25 miles below Eichmond, on the 9th of Februarv, 1773, 
and his youth was passed in that State, amid the slirrino- scenes of 
the Revolution in which his father was an active participant. He 
received a classical education at Hampdon Sydney Colleo-e, and at 
the age of seventeen years, began the study of medicine, in Rich- 
mond, Virginia. In April, 1791, he was sent to Philadelphia, 
and placed under the charge of his father's most intimate friend, 
Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, to prosecute his 
studies. Before he reached Philadelphia, his father died. He 
became dissatisfied with the study of medicine, and on expressino- 
that dissatisfaction to Gov. Lee, of Virginia, then on a visit to 
Philadelphia, he recommended liim to the army. He consented 
and in twenty-four hours after, was an ensign in the 16th U. S. 
Regiment of Infantry, receiving his commission from the hands 
of the Father of his Country. Spending a few weeks in recruiting 
in Philadelphia, he was ordered to join his regiment at Fort Was- 
hington, on the site of Cincinnati. He reached his destination in 
November, just as the remnant of the army ofGenl. St. Clair ar- 
rived, who had been defeated on the 4th of that month. His 
own regiment was not in the action, but hesays,nothing could ex- 
ceed the wretched appearance of those who had participated, their 
clx)thes in rags, the privations and suffering of the battle, and a 
flight of 110 miles, through a swampy wilderness, written in 
marked characters on their countenances. The village of Cincin- 
nati was then composed of 25 to 30 log cabins. There was little 
to relieve their suffering but the wretched provision issued by 
the army contractors, almost too bad for human food. The near- 
est settlement in Kentucky was 100 miles off, and all other sup- 



6 

plies, except meat, had to be brought from Pittsburg, and the river 
being very low, with every prospect of a severe winter, things 
looked dreary enough. There was abundance of bad whisky, 
and the soldiers freely gave the remnant of their pay, S3. 00 
per month, in exchange for it. The General remarks that he 
saw more drunken men the first forty-eight hours after his arri 
val here, than ever before in his life. 

The scene before our young soldier was not very promising. 
Scarcely nineteen years old, of a slight frame, raised in affluence, 
and amidst the most refined society of the new world, he seemed 
illy adapted to yningle with,much less to lead, the hardy, rough, 
athletic pioneers of the western wild. They saw at once that he 
had not been bred m the hardships which had made them like 
the oaks of their own forests. And they pictured to him the many 
marches through tangled swamps, across swollen rivers, pursued 
by lurking savages, who haunted every tree with rifle and toma- 
hawk by day and night, the burning cabin, the scalped inmates, 
or wounded, sick and captured prisoner, hurried back through the 
wilderness, his reluctant step urged on by the war club, and when 
powerless to move, the tomahawk buried in his brain, or tied, a 
quivering victim to the stake, with tiowlmg demons dancing^ 
aiound, while the flames leaped all over and above him, licking 
him with their tongues of agony. 

He was coolly received, too, by the officers. Most of them 
had earned their promotion by hard service in the wilderness 
campaigns, some of them in the battles of the Revolution, and 
they felt it to be an injustice to them, that a mere youth, who had 
never smelled gunpowder, or seen an enemy, should step forward 
with a commission which was not a receipt for services rendered. 
The son of the senior captain of his regiment was the senior ca- 
det, and had been recommended by all the officers of the regiment 
for the very vacancy to which he had been appointed. Not only 
did the old pioneers and those who where unfriendly to him 
sneer, but friends urged him to leave the rough life, for which he 
was evidently so unsuited, and follow some more congenial call- 
ing. But he says, "My dander was raised, I had entered the 
army, without the knowledge of any of my relatives, and against 
the advice of the venerable friend of my father, and I had too 
much pride to acknowledge by a precipitate resignation of my 
commission, that I was frightened at the dangers which I saw he- 
re in perspective." 



The small number of treops here was scarcely sufficient to 
garrison the fort, and during the inclement winters of 1791-2 the 
service was very severe. In the interval of duty our young en- 
sign applied himself to study. He tells us his library consisted 
of but one volume of Cicero's Orations and the large edition of 
Blair's Lectures, which he had used at college. 

But the number of professional works belougiug to the officers 
was quite considerable ; and so, in addition to the lessons of his 
daily duty, he applied himself to obtain a knowledge of the 
higher military tactics. For this he was well prepared by his 
former study. Inferior to many of his class at college as a 
Greek and Latin scholar, he was inferior to but one in belles 
letters, and particularly in historj'. He was acquainted with the 
accounts of all the battles described b}' ancient authors, from 
Homer to Julius Caeser, and had read through the ponderous 
works of Rollin three times before he was seventeen years of 
age. This partiality for ancient history marked his whole life, 
and is seen in all his writings. The months which rolled around 
in camp were scrupulously devoted to valuable service. His 
frame hardened by the necessary drill andj exercise; his tact and 
military knowledge were apparent in ever}"- duty he was called 
upon to perform ; his gentlemanly conduct won upon the officers ; 
while his genuine humor and friendl}' intercourse with the citi- 
zens and common soldiers, his bravery in not shrinking from any 
duty or danger, made him a marked man to all. No wonder, 
then, that in the spring of 1793, when General Wayne, with the 
keen eye of the commander, selected him for his aid-de-camp, 
the regiment regarded it as an honor done toj the whole 
<5orps. 

In 1792 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and fought 
under Wayne, who spoke of his gallant conduct in flattering 
terms. After the desperate' battle of the Miami Rapids he was 
promoted to the rank of captain. 

He was married in November, 1795, to Annie Symmes, daugh- 
ter of John Cleves Symmes, the proprietor of the Miami Pur- 
chase. It is said that the marriage of the young, penniless 
officer with the elegant daughter of the wealthy landholder was 
opposed by her father; the parties themselves quietly called 
in the friendly aid of Dr. Stephen Wood, near Cleves, then one 
of the justices of the peace of the Territory, the father absent- 
ing himself from the ceremony. 



8 

Mrs. Harrison lived to witness the wisdom of her choice 
in the many tokens of distinctions awarded him, up to the high- 
est in the gift of the nation, and survived him many years, 
until 1864. 

After his marriage, in the same year, Capt. Harrison was placed 
by Gen. Wayne in command of Fort Washington. He remained on 
Wayne's staff until the death of that officer in 1796, and in the 
following year resigned his commission in the army, and was ap- 
pointed Secretary to the Northwestern Territory. The Secretary 
being ex-officio Lieutenant-Governor, he acted as Governor for 
a considerable time — Governor St. Clair having his residence in 
Pennsylvania, and being rarely in the Territory. 

In 1799, August 3d, he was elected the first Delegate in Con- 
gress from the Northwestern Territor3^ The object of those who 
favored his election was to obtain a change in the laws in re- 
gard to the sale of public lands. The early laws in reference to 
the public lands were exceedingly unfavorable to the rapid set- 
tlement of the Territories. First, they provided only for the sale 
in tracts of two millions acres each, and then of one million 
acres. Under the first, the Ohio Company purchased the lands 
on the Muskingum, and under the second, John Cleves Symmes 
and associates purchased between the Miamies. By subsequent 
acts, the amount to be sold at one time was reduced to about four 
thousand acres, except in fractions of townships on river banks. 
Thus this whole Territary was placed in the hands of specula- 
tors, who purchased vast tracts and held them for the rise, and 
retailed them to poor settlers at the advanced rates. On taking 
his seat in Congress, Kepresentative Harrison presented a me- 
morial from his constituents for the amelioration ot those laws. 

A Committee of seven was appointed, of which he was Chair- 
man, which presented a bill providing that one-half of the public 
lands should be divided and sold in small tracts and on long 
credit. This he succeeded in getting through Congress, although! 
opposed bitterly by the herd of land speculators, who were not 
more scrupulous than those of the present. 

The effect was electrical. It was hailed with joy by the people 
as the most efficient law for the settlement of the Territory. At 
the same session of Congress the Territory was divided by es- 
tablishing the new Territory of Indiana, and Mr. Harrison ap- 
pointed Governor and Indian Agent thereof by President Adams. 
At the same time he obtained the passage of a law extending the 



time of payment for those who bad forfeited their preemption 
rights, and thus enabled them to pay for their farms. Under 
these wise laws the population began at once to pour into the 
new Territories. Land offices were established in Cincinnati, 
Chilicothe, Marietta and Steubenville, and large quantities of the 
best land at once brought into the market and sold to actual set- 
tlers; so that in less than three years, the Territory of Ohio had 
sufficient population to form a new State. To this law 
alone, may be attributed the rapid growth of the North- 
western Territory, from a population of 5,000 then, to that 
of nearly ten millions in seventy years after. Had the career of 
General Harrison terminated here, he would have left a record 
of public benefaction, such as to have entitled him to a monu- 
ment in every county of the Northwestern Territory, and his 
name to be as a household God in every house. 

And now, as Governor of I ndiana Territory and Indian Agent 
of the General Government, came the ye ars which were to try the 
capacities of our hero. At first he declined the appointment, 
preferring to remain in Ohio, under the expectation of succeed- 
ing Governor St. Clair in that then better settled and less ex- 
tensive Territory. But, under the advice of friends, he accepted 
it, and at the age of 27 years, in 1800, he was invested with the 
official supervision of that vast Territory, which, for a portion of 
his term, embraced what is now Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Mis- 
souri, Arkansas, Wisconsin and Iowa, with a population of 
9,842,128. The appointment as Governor was for three years. 
How well he performed his duties, may be judged from the his- 
tory of the general satisfaction he gave to the people and Gov- 
ernment. Upon the expiration of his term he was reappointed 
by Mr. Jefferson, in 1803, and also in 1806, and by Mr. Madison 
in 1809 and 1812. During this whole term, the white population, 
was small and widely scattered, and a large portion of this ter- 
ritory was owned and occupied by numerous tribes of Indians, 
watchful and jealous of the encroachments of the whites. 
To guard against their intrigues, it became necessary to form 
extensive settlements along tiie Mississippi, Ohio, Illinois, and 
"Wabash rivers, and for this purpose the Indian titles must be 
extinguished. Governor Harrison was invested in this respect, 
with almost unlimited authority in drawing money from Govern- 
ment, making presents to the Indians, and treaties with them, 
them. His will was almost absolute, so great was the 



10 

confidence of the General Government in his wisdom and fidelity. 
He held the commission as Indian Agent during the whole 
period of his governorship, and made treaties with the Indians, 
by which he extinguished their titles to upwards of fifty millions 
of acres of land. His compensation for these services was six 
dollars per day, when acting as Commissioner. And he says, 
although he could act as such when he chose, his entire compen- 
sation did not exceed three thousand, and he is not satisfied that 
it reached two thousand dollars. For one important treaty with 
the Indians, his charge was $44.00. A proud example of integ- 
rity and economy is this, which, I fear, will hardly be excelled 
if equalled even, by the Quaker Mission of the present day. 

The years of his governorship of Indiana furnish matter for vol- 
umes of history. The}-" measure the birth, struggle, and growth 
of an empire. During that period his home was at Vincennes, on 
the east bank of the Wabash, and the old gubernatorial mansion 
is still to be seen nearly opposite the west end of the Ohio and 
Mississippi Railroad Depot. It often witnessed scenes of intense 
historical interest. For the duties of the Governor were not al- 
wavs of a peaceable character. The giMDwing while population of 
the Territory was gradually making the Indian feel that his hunt- 
incr grounds were becoming too circumscribed for his migratory 
habits. Then came the wild dreams and bitter invectives of the 
Prophet Elkawatawa, who under a pretended inspiration from the 
Great Spirit, warned his people to have nothing to do with the 
pale facefe, their religion, their customs, their arms, or their arts, 
for eveiy imitation of the intruders was oflTensive to the Great 
Master of Life. The General endeavored to conciliate them ; he 
sent messages and presents, and friendly, trusted and efficient 
agents, who spoke to them in their own language, and endeavor- 
ed to reconcile them. But every sign was unmistakable of their 
hostile intentions. He attempted to induce them to visit him, 
but for a long time in vain. Promise after promise was broken. 
But finally, on the 12th of August, 1810, Tecumtha suddenly ap- 
peared with four hundred armed warriors in the ^-ard in front of 
the Governor's mansion. His bearing was haughty and resolute. 
Fear seized the inhabitants. But the General was calm and collect- 
ed. He invited the Chief into the house to hold a council, but 
Tecumtha replied, "houses were built for you to hold council in; 
Indians hold their's in the open air." He then took a position un- 
der some trees, and opened his business with a speech of great 



11 

eloquence and dignity, in which he charged that all the treaties 
made with the Indians are invalid. When he had concluded, one 
of the Geueral's Aide's, pointing to a seat by the General's side 
said, "your Father requests you to take a seat by his side." Te- 
cumtha drew his mantle around him, and said with scorn, " My 
father !" The sun is my father, and the earth is mj' mother, on 
her bosom will I repose," and seated himself on the ground. 
The whole scene was one which onl^' a ])ainter could deliniate. 
The session was an angry one. The General responded that 
they found the Miamies in possession of the land, and peaceably 
purchased it, and that Tecumtha had no power to control other 
tribes. Instantly the savage raised to his feet, and mdignantly cried, 
" It is false,''' and his dusky warriors, seizing their tomahawks 
and war-clubs, sprang upon their feet, their eyes turned towards 
the General. 

But, with only a small body guard around him, Harrison re- 
strained his temper, and was cool and firm. Rising, he drew a 
small side sword, and calmly told Tecumtha he was a bad man, 
and must take his departure — that " his claims would be referred 
to the President." Sullenly the chieftain retires, exclaiming : 
'■'■ If the lands are not given uj), you and I must fight it out /" 

Then commenced that long and terrible war, which ravaged 
the whole North-west. The Indians, assisted, and furnished am- 
munition and other aid, by the British, began to ravage the 
cabins of the settlers, and burn and murder the inmates. Then 
followed the battles of Tippecanoe, River Raisin, Forts Maiden, 
Harrison, Defiance, Meigs, Stephenson, the grand victory of 
Perry on the Lakes, and the battle of the Thames. 

The length of an address will not permit me to speak in de- 
tail of any of them, thej^ form part of the imperishable history of 
the country, accessible to all. In the heat of political "contest, 
General Harrison has been severely criticised for his generalship 
at Tippecanoe. But the most triumphant vindication of his 
conduct there was, that after the battle, when Kentucky had lost 
two of her ablest sons, and many of her brave men, and while 
there were yet many distinguished officers and men alive who were 
with him on that fatal field, he was summoned to appear at 
Frankfort, the capitol, and although not a citizen of that State, 
was unanimously requested by the Grand Council to take com- 
mand of her troops, then en route for the frontier, to wipe 
out the disgrace of Hull's surrender. 



12 

He accepted, took the oath, and put himself at the head of the 
troops, many of whom had been with him at Tippecanoe, among 
them two members of Congress, one of vvhom was in the ranks. 

As a Kentucky General, he commanded until February, 1813, 
when on the increase of General officers, he received the appoint- 
ment of Major General in the line of the arm3\ During that 
time Perry on LakeErie,had "met the enemy, and they were ours." 
And on the battle field of the Thames, Harrison, as the Kentucky 
General, had broken the power of Tecumtha and his allied British 
columns. Here Tecumtha fell — '■'• thej had fought it out, and 
the land was ours.'' Then followed in quick succession, the an- 
nihilation of the allied armies west of Lake Ontario, and the whole 
country', from Maine to Georgia, resounded with the praises of 
the Heroes of Lake Erie and the Thames, and Congress voted 
thanks and a gold medal to Genl. Harrison. Thus was 
broken up the Indian confederation of the North. 

Genl. Harrison obtained leave to visit his family, and returning 
by way of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, 
was everywhere received with heartfelt rejoicings. 

Great expectations rose in the minds of the people, that he 
would be appointed Commander in-Chief of the American army. 
Perry wrote to him, " I expect to hail you as the Chief who is to 
redeem the honor of our armies in the North." And other pro- 
minent officers expressed the same kindly feelings. But the pro- 
fessed friendly feeling of the Secretary of War was changed sud- 
denly, and he attempted to interfere with Harrison's prerogative 
as Commander-in-Chief of the Eighth Military District. This 
caused Genl. Harrison, on the 11th of May, 1814, to tender his 
resignation to the Secretary of War, who, in the absence of the 
President, accepted it, much to his sincere regret, as he assured 
Genl. Shelb}', it would not have been accepted had he been at 
home. 

During the summer, he was appointed, with Genls. Shelby and 
Cass, to treat with the Indians of the Northwest, and settle all 
matters in dispute with them. This being accomplished, his pub- 
lic duties ceased. And thus, at forty years of age, having been in 
continual service of his country for twenty-one years, with his 
private fortune and business shattered, and a large family to 
raise and educate, he retired to his farm, at North Bend, sixteen 
miles below Cincinnati, on the Ohio River, in the quietude of 
peace, among his old companions, to pass the remainder of his 



13 

days. Here he remained for a few years, honored and beloved 
by all. He had neither been cor- rupted by the immense 
amounts of public money which passed through his hands, nor be- 
come proud, or haughty, or dazzled, by the height of power to 
which he had been raised. But honest, simple in his habits, 
kind in his demeanor, and open as day, he attracted all to him 
and his house, plain as that of the ordinary farmer around him, 
was always open to the visitor, of whatever rank in life, and all 
received with an unaffected cordiality, which showed the man was 
too great for pretence or sham of any kind. 

But this quiet must again be invaded. His old Ohio friends re- 
quired his services, and he was sent to Congress from 1816 to 
1819 ; and again from 1824 to 1828, he represented Ohio in the 
Senate of the Nation, when he was appointed Minister to the young 
Republic of Columbia, South America, then struggling for Inde- 
pendence. This position he occupied until the incoming of Genl. 
Jackson, when a difference of opinion arising between them in 
reference to the Panama question, he was recalled. 

In 1834, he was appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas 
of Hamilton County, Ohio, and acted as such for several years. 

His name now became prominently mentioned as a candidate 
for President of the United States. At the National Whig Con- 
vention, held at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on the 4th of Decem- 
ber, 1839, he received the nomination for President, and John 
Tyler, tor Vice President. The nomination was received with 
great favor by the people throughout the country, but, as a mat- 
ter of course, political partisanship was aroused. The campaign 
of the ensuing year was one of intense excitement, both parties 
exerting themselves to the utmost. It will live in political 
history, as the '■^ Log Cabin and Hard Cider Campaign.^'' Some 
incautious individual had sneered at the General as living in the 
backwoods, in a log cabin, and treating his friendb to hard cider. 
This was taken up as the watchword of the campaign. Immense 
meetings were held all over the land, in which huge processions 
without end, following a model log cabin, on truck wheels, 
drawn by twenty, forty, and sometimes as high as an hun- 
dred horses, gaily caparisoned with festoons of buckeyes, (the 
emblem of Ohio,) while the cabin would be filled with prominent, 
and, in many instances, distinguished gentlemen, drinking 
hard cider out of gourds, and singing lustily and musically the 
songs of " Tippecanoe and Tyler too." These would be followed 



14 

by parade wagons, brilliantly decorated, filled with j'oung ladies, 
representing the Goddess of Liberty and each ot the States, wag- 
ons filled with Revolutionary veterans, soldiers of 1812, and then 
staid and solid looking Democrats, walking arm and arm, who 
had stood firm for Jackson and resisted all arguments tending 
to convert them from the old Democratic faith, but whose fathers 
had been with Tippecanoe at that famous battle, or through 
some of his campaigns, now known as '^Straight Outs,'''' they defied 
all the blandishments, and sneers, and arguments of the friends 
of Van Buren, and only replied, in Stentorian voices, with the 
chorus, " Van, Van, Van, is a tised up man!''' 

General Harrison was now 67 years of age. And although for 
the past few years his frame had seemed to droop, it was attribu- 
ted by his friends, more to the annoyance consequent on the care 
for his family and the slender condition of his purse, than from 
any infirmit}'^ of age. 

His nomination and the excitement of the campaign revived all 
his old fire, he visited many prominent places in the land, and was 
hailed with joy b}' the people, who gazed with surprise at the quiet, 
plain old gentleman who seemed as if he might have stepped from 
any one of their farm-houses as a spectator of the holiday parade. 
And when he addressed large audiences, as he often did, the can- 
dor of his manner, the clearness of his statement of fact and ar- 
gument, carried conviction to the utmost extent of the vast circle 
to which the ringing tones ot that voice, soft and sweet as an 
-^olian lute, would penetrate. 

The mountains, valleys, and prairies were on fire, and for 

months, it seemed as if one could not, by day or night, get out 

of sight of the blazing bonfires, or long processions, or cease to 

hear the refrain caught up every where,* b3' every body : 

"For Tippecanoe and Tyler too 

And with them we'll beat little Van." 

While all the time that "Ball "(which caused this great com- 
motion) "was rolling on" until in November, 1840, by such a ma- 
jority of the popular vote as had never been dreamed of, Harrison 
was elected President. Out of 294 votes ot the Electoral College 
he received 234. Never was a victoiy so triumphant, received 
with such rejoicing, even many of his most violent political ene- 
mies seemed to feel that in his honest grasp the affairs of the 
country would be safe. 

The time came when he was to assume the chair of the Chief 



15 

Magistrate. During all the years of his public life, his Avife had 
been the principle manager of his home affairs. She was a wo- 
man of the highest domestic virtues, devotedly attached to her- 
home and her friends. And while shunning all notoriety into 
which the high position of her husband would lead her, she was 
proud of his triumphs, and sought to make his home life and that of 
their children as sacred and beautiful, as his public career was 
•grand. She still chose to remain at the old home at North Bend, 
while her accomplished daughter Annie Taylor, wife of Col. W. H. 
H. Taylor, with her husband, accompanied the President to Wash- 
ington to preside over the White House, with that grace and in- 
telligence which so eminently distingished this, the favorite daugh- 
ter and almost image of her father. 

The scene of his departure was most affecting. Old men who 
had shared with him the toils of the campaigns among the Indians, 
their wives and children, his old neighbors, the poor, of whom 
there were many who for years had shared his bounty, gathered to 
witness his departure, cheering for his triumph while their cheeks 
were wet with tears. The boat on which he was to pass up the 
river lay at the foot of Broadway, in Cincinnati. The wharves, 
streets and every surrounding vessel and h ouse were filled with 
spectators. Standing on the deck of a steamer, with a clear ringing 
voice he recalled to the mind of the people that forty- eight years 
before he had lauded on ttiat spot a poor, unfriended boy in al- 
most an unbroken wilderness to join his fortune with their's, and 
that now by the voice of a majority of the seventeen millions of 
people of this free land he was about to leave them to as- 
sume the Chief Magistracy of the greatest Nation of the earth. He 
assured them that he was devoted to the interests of the people, 
and although this might be the last time he would look upon 
them, they would nnd him in the future true to the old history 
of the past. 

Prophetic vision ! Never more was it given to him to look on 
the faces of those who this day cheered him on to his high goal. 
Betore visiting Washington, he went to the old homestead on the 
James river and there in the room of his mother (then dead many 
years) composed his Inaugural Address as President. 

On the 4th of March, 1841, in the presence of an immense mul- 
titude at the Capitol in Washington ne took the oath of office. 
His Inaugural Address was a plain but able and comprehensive 
document. He pledged himself to administer the government ac- 



16 

cording to the Constitution as understood b}'^ it's framers and 
early administrators. 

He expressed his profound reverence for the Christian Religion 
and his thorough conviction that sound morals, religious belief, 
and a just sense of religious responsibility, are essentially connec- 
ted with all true and lasting happiness. "Let us unite then," 
said he, " in commending every interest of our beloved Country 
to that Great Being who has blessed us by the gifts of civic and 
religious freedom ; who has watched over and prospered the labors 
of our fathers ; and who has hitherto preserved to us, institutions 
far exceeding in excellence those of any other people." 

He called to his Cabinet, Daniel Webster, Secretary'' of State; 
Thos. Ewing, Secretary of the Treasury. John Bell, Secretary- of 
War ; George E. Badger, Secretary of the Navy ; Francis Granger, 
Post Master General; John J. Crittenden, Attorney General. 

Such an arra^" of men of the most eminent ability, at once com- 
manded the admiration of the Country and foreshadowed an able 
administration of public affairs. On the 17th of March, he issued 
a proclamation for a special session of Congress to meet on the 
14th of Ma}', to legislate on the subject of finances and the rev- 
enue, in order to relieve the Country from the great commercial 
depression under which it had been laboring for several years. 

On the 27th of March, 1841, he was seized with a chill and 
other symptoms of fever. The next day with pneumonia, with 
congestion of the liver and derangement of the stomach and 
bowels. 

The attack was severe and he never rallied from it, but died at 
half past one on the morning of the fourth of April, just one 
month after his inauguration. His mind wandered for a day or 
two before he died. He fancied he was addressing Mr. Tyler, his 
successor, and the last coherent words he spoke weie " I wish 
3-ou to understand the true principles of the Government, I wish 
them carried out, I ask no more." 

The Vice President was summoned at once from his home, and 
took the oath of offlce as President, on the 7th. The funeral ser- 
vices took place at the White-house, after which, the body accom- 
panied by a large civic and military procession, was taken to the 
Congressional burying ground and deposited in the receiving 
vault to await the arrangements of his family. The Nation was 
shrouded in mouratug, and the ensuing 16th of May, set apart as 



17 

a day of fasting and prayer, upon which in nearly every town and 
city the people met in honor of tae illustrious dead. 

In the meantime preparations had»been made to inter the re- 
mains on a beautiful hill just west of his home at North Bend, 
and under the guidance of Committees of Congress and of the 
principal cities of the country, they were in Jul^', 1841, escorted 
from Washington. Arriving in Cincinnati, the body lay in state 
at the house of his son-in-law. Col. W. H. H. Taylor, on the north 
side of Sixth street, just east of Lodge, and was visited by thou- 
sands of his old friends and fellow citizens. It was then after 
suitable religious services, placed on a bier on the side walk, and 
the citizens and militar}' filed past it. The funeral procession 
under charge of George Graham, Esq., still living, then marched 
to the river, the corpse was placed on a magnificent catafalque on 
board a steamer, which with two others lashed side by side and 
loaded with mourners, slowly with solemn dirges and tolling bells 
moved to North Bend. Arriving there, a long procession follow- 
ed the remains to the summit of the mound where they were de- 
posited in the vault, beneath a low built structure covered with 
turf. There have they laid for nearly thirty 3'ears. 

No marble rears its head to mark 

The honored hero's dust, 
Nor glittering spire, nor cenotaph, 

Nor monumental bust. 
But on the spot his manhood loved, 

His aged form's at rest, 
And he built his own proud monument 
Within a Nation's I reast. 
It has been said that on the death of a great man, thejlrst thing 
the Americans do. is to resolve to build him a monument and the 
last thing they do, is to build it. If all the resolutions of this 
character passed in regard to Gen. Harrison had been chrystaliz- 
ed into granite, the hills around North Bend would have been 
covered with monuments. But the beautiful spot is itself a monu- 
ment, sacred and historic, prominent from every passing steamer 
and Rail Road car to the eye of the eager traveler. Standing on 
its heighth, one looks over three States, and sees for miles the 
great hills with the beautiful Ohio, rolling between, with cultiva- 
tion and peace on either bank. Along its base, scores of times a 
day, pass the swift locomotives to all points of the compass, bear- 
ing the traveler in a few hours to Vincennes, Tippecanoe, Mau- 
mee, River Raisin. Lake Erie, or the Thames and hundreds of 
miles beyond, through populous cities, beautiful villages, rich and 
highly cultivate 1 farms, amid a peaceful population of ten mil- 



18 

lions of free men governed by wise and just laws, made by the 
Rulers selected by themselves. ^ Here are the montiments which 
Gen. Harrison has built for himself, and they are more enduring 
than granite or brass. With the wealth of Kingdoms passing 
through his hands for so many years, and with millions of acres 
at his disposal, all that remains in his family is the lot of three 
acres upon which his tomb rests. This, his only living son, Hon. 
John Scott Harrison, now far past the meridian of life, offers as a 
free gift to the great State of Ohio, upon the only condition that 
it IS preserved sacred for its present purposes. 

Shall not this great State do more ? Shall she not through her 
Senators and Representatives now in session, say we will no lon- 
ger be ungrateful or unmindful of duty, but with our nearly 
three millions of people, we will gladly accept this trust, and 
erect on this sacred spot, a monument, alike commemorating 
the virtues of the dead and the gratitude of the living. 



